The fine print of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ migrant debit card program reveals it could become a way to wash money by giving a blank check to a fifth column of government—or, as the New York Post puts it, become “an open-ended, multibillion-dollar Bermuda Triangle of disappearing, untraceable cash, used for any purpose.” The program—which makes use of the services of social justice bank Mobility Capital Finance—lacks any form of oversight and has no limit on how much money is to be disbursed or where it can be dispensed.
It was originally reported by the Post in early February that New York City would be handing out over $50,000,000 in pre-paid debt cards to illegal immigrants. At that time, Adams’ office justified it as an initiative to save the government money on waste, citing the millions of dollars of food from free meals for migrants that are thrown away by city contractor DocGo.
But the Post has since learned that the debit card contract lacks any stipulations regarding eventual limits: while it plans to disburse up to $10,000 to migrants each year without identification, restrictions, or typical fraud controls, it technically can give away as much money as it wants. Despite the fact that the program has so far only been tested among a group of 500 individuals, the Mayor’s office notably did not fact-check any media outlets for reporting on this caveat, signaling they were okay with the narrative.
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The contract is between New York City’s Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) and Mobility Capital Finance (or MoCaFi), a financial lender based in Harlem, NY, and Newark, NJ. It was founded by former managing director at JPMorgan Chase Wole Coaxum, who has said on the record that the death of Michael Brown—a Black teenager in Ferguson, MO who was killed by a police officer—inspired him to become involved in social justice finance to “narrow the racial wealth gap.”
HPD was advised to solicit the services of Mobility Capital by New York City Hall.
In the fine print of the contract, rules were established for disbursements above $150,000,000—implying there would be disbursements over $150,000,000.
“Cardholders will not be subject to ID verification,” the contract notes. “After delivery of [cards] to the city, the city shall be responsible for the security of the [cards] until delivered … to the cardholders.”
Further, the contract specifies that the city will not pay MoCaFi over $53 million for scopes and services—but does not give a limit to the funds designated for the cards. The Post reports that the city has given itself leeway to grant $2.5 billion or more toward the program, which is in addition to all the welfare cash and food programs the city already administers.
While HPD qualifies Mobility Capital as an “emergency services” provider, the firm’s only experience in city projects was a minimal support drive for the city’s budget.
Mayor Adams’ office had planned to form a partnership with Mobility Capital as far back as one year ago, when the director Adams appointed to lead his Fund to Advance New York said there would be a future Universal Basic Income initiative with the firm.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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